


"“I couldn’t utter my love when it counted… ah, but I’m singing like a bird ‘bout it, now"

by Isala_Vhenan



Series: Dragon Age Oneshots [8]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Developing Relationship, M/M, Romance, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:07:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23998003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isala_Vhenan/pseuds/Isala_Vhenan
Summary: Ashaad x Saemus Dumar because I like to hurt my own feelings
Relationships: Ashaad/Saemus Dumar, Qunari/Human - Relationship
Series: Dragon Age Oneshots [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1718812
Kudos: 4





	"“I couldn’t utter my love when it counted… ah, but I’m singing like a bird ‘bout it, now"

Ashaad never lied, never coddled. 

_Never lied._

His body on the sands, vitaar smeared with his own blood, pallor graying as life drained away. Ginnis’ laughter drowned out by Saemus’ own blood rushing through his ears everything inside him screaming, something inside him fracturing and falling through him to the ground

_Never coddled._

His father’s voice urging him not to empathize with them; that they were just creatures. Beasts who were savage. He didn’t see, his father so blinded by ignorance and hate that he didn’t see how wrong he was. 

_Never lied._

Ashaad teaching him how to shape the words, Qunlat awkward in a mouth that had only spoken common before. Ashaad giving one of his rare smiles and guiding him patiently, large hand on Saemus’ back as he repeated the words. 

_Never coddled._

The sisters in the Chantry whisper behind his back, Sister Petrice’s anti-Qunari vitriol had spread among the rest of the members. Vicious and explicit rumors were rampant, his father desperate to quench them and any reality there was to them. Saemus once again trapped in the keep enduring another lecture, thoughts occupied by what he knew to be true, what he knew about his father to be false. 

_Never lied._

Ashaad’s low laugh and the way he’d tilt his head when confused. the way he liked to wade into the waters at the docks despite Saemus telling him it was dangerous. The way he had first touched Saemus’ skin to spread the imitation vitaar, when he had been sure his face was as red as the war paint. The way Ashaad smiled at his reaction, something in his gaze as he looked down at Saemus.

_Never coddled._

More hatred and more fear leading to more misunderstandings and premature conclusions. Why could they not see? What free state was this that he could not choose his own path? That the Qunari were hated simply for being different? His father’s voice echoing behind him, all the authority drained from it as Saemus decided he would no longer listen. How had his father ever intimidated him before? 

_Never lied._

Every touch was more intimate than the one before. One brush against his skin meant more than any other touch possibly could. Mapping the coast together they could leave, even just for a moment, the chaos and uncertainty of the city and everything about his life. With Ashaad he didn’t have to wonder, didn’t have to pander. He offered certainty and patience even though Saemus couldn’t truly understand him; he was there, solid and forgiving but firm. He never lied.

_Never coddled._

They had lured him in, convinced him to meet and Saemus couldn’t even remember how he had ended up with them, knowing what they wanted. It must have been his conversion that set him off. What was it about certainty that lay with a religion other than their own that drove them to madness? He was still filled with doubts and yet he did not rampage as they did. 

As the blade sliced into his neck he was once again confronted with the image that had haunted him for years. 

Ashaad’s body on the sands, vitaar smeared with his own blood, pallor graying as life drained away. 

Eyes meeting Saemus’, mouth moving to say something he couldn’t hear, lips moving in the now familiar Qunlat.

Ginnis’ laughter drowned out by Saemus’ own blood rushing through his ears everything inside him screaming, something inside him fracturing and falling through him to the ground. 

Ashaad never lied, never coddled.

And Saemus had loved him.

He had loved him.

He had loved him.

He–

 _Darkness_. 


End file.
